... and to all a good night.

Glorious Sunday afternoon after a Tiger victory at the Park. Warm and sunny with a mild breeze and steaks are on the grill. Scherzer struck out 14 in 5.2 but walked 4 and hit a guy and only gave up 2 hits. Miggy had 4 hits including another homer and pushed his rbi count to 48. Inge (finally) and Guillen also went long for the Detroiters; Zoomaya got the save. 32, 000 at the ball park and woulda been 32,001 but i stayed outside and hung out with some local cats on Brush street. Great atmosphere down there, and a great day for a game.

I quit the war of the worlds reproduction after getting so much advice to do just that.

All that is gold does not glitter
Not all who wander are lost
The old that is strong does not wither
Deep roots are not reached by the frost
From the ashes a fire shall be woken
A light from the shadows shall spring.
Renewed shall be the blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king.

Bonine didn't pitch to-day, but did yestreday.

oooooooooooooolala...

A glorious Saturday afternoon and i have all but completed my chores. Let's see, ... woke up (good), made some coffee but forgot to drink some (?), had a Big Boy omelette (this, it must be told, was an anomaly. i had the pleasure of cooking at Big Boy in college and i know how they make their stuff. i swore years ago i'd never ever eat there again. twas a pleasant suprise though: tasty, larger portion than i remember, and the toasted whole wheat bread was succulent), went to home depot for topsoil (97 cents a bag), got an oil change (you want radiator flushed also? she is brown. what's brown? fluid. what color's it supposed to be? green. how much? is supposed to be 49 i give you ahhh five dollar discount so is 45. 44. yes, 44. how long will it take? 7 minutes. k.), looked for a lawn mower (this was before i checked the bank balance...thankfully i didn't find one), picked up some wild bird seed at the local hardware (not the dollar store crap some other people in the neighbourhood buy, the real good 49 cents a pound stuff!), watered the plants (all of them; doused 'em good, i say), cut off the end of a thin piece of decking by the lake that was literally crumbling (circular saw and a furlong of power cord), fixed the piece of deck by the garage (replaced a board that i stepped through while unraveling the 400 cubits of power cord during the previous task), weedwacked (this was a quite mundane task and really requires no annotation), used one 40 pound bag of topsoil of the fifteen i bought to use for my peppers in a raised bed i had made (what i thought was a little box of miracle grow sitting on the crumbling deck turned out to be just an empty miracle grow box, so the peppers are on their own), bailed out the paddle boat (not-so-recent rains and the lack of a proper cover led to this), planted three perennials (including a beautiful Shasta Daisy on Fred's side of the property by my herbs - these also are on their own), and came up to the library to type (air conditioned, yes, but there's this annoying child asking the librarian if she likes kids? ..." oh yes!" ... "do you like...me?!?" "why of course!" "i think sometimes, um, i don't really like boys my age, ... i don't think the girls are that bad but boys are much more annoying than girls...uhum (this obnoxious clearing of collected phlegm) hmmmm..."
ok. anyways, for the rest of the day, ... shall i say, ... life is good. Tigers at 7 (Porcello will try to stop the 5/6 skid they're on) with some grilled brats (Johnsonville you know) and then tomorrow (Sunday) i'm a goin down to the park and watching the one o'clock matinee live. :-) Maybe Bonine will pitch!!

a great morning after a not-so-great night...

So, so-called 'friends' say they're gonna do something and they don't do it...i'm not perfect but if you have someone counting on you don't you make every attempt to do what you say you're gonna do... or maybe call and say can't help ya to-day, dude...
Oh well over it now. The sun is shining, and recent events have caused my heart to leapeth like an hart.
wtf
dude, get a grip
smile smilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmilesmile


Favourite name for a chess move: en passant

Favourite character's name from Les Mis: not actually his name but what Val Jean is called by the dude who was trapped under the cart: monsieur le maire

thank you

well zippidy doo-dah!

I can sew the costumes, maybe Uncle Goober can be the judge.

Newest favourite movie: V for Vendetta.

Newest favourite slacker.com station: The Clash

Newest attempt to like something i didn't like before and the dislike was confirmed: sweet and sour anything

of tentworms and disgust

The tale grew in the telling, until it became a history of The Great War of the Massive Black Flies, and included many glimpses of the yet more ancient history that preceded it.


Long ago, in the northern regions of the upper mid-northwest Lower Michigan, there was a baseball field.

The field was happy, for untold legions of Malacosoma lived there, feasting on fat, sun-burned children in the dugouts. One day, the Red people came in to the area and inhabited the baseball field. The Malacosoma near where the Red people lived were exterminated (very neatly, I might add, by cognatively-challenged umpires), but all the other worms were allowed to continue to thrive, keeping the baseball field happy.

The Red people were bored one day and had to come up with entertainment for themselves (Deliverance: the Final Out was supposed to be on HBO that night, but got pre-empted by the documentary Tentworms in the Mist, which they'd seen a hundred-million times before. )

So the Red people said: "Let us invite the Blue people over for dinner."

And, of course, what they really meant was "Let us invite the Blue people over, to be feasted upon by the Malacosoma, Massive Black Flies, Gnats, Gnomes, and Yellow Jackets!" To which all the Red people ceremoniously errupted "AMEN!"

As the Day of Delight (which it has been called ever since) was approaching, representatives of the Malacosoma sought out the Chieftains of the Red people: "In thy mercy, we wouldst beseach of thee, to turnest up the thermostat, so that each and every of the Massive Black Flies, Gnats, Gnomes, and Yellow Jackets wouldst be at their hungriest and fiercest, for this festive occassion."

The Chieftains of the Red people consulted and, in the end, it was decided. "So let it be written, so let it be done."

And so, the final preparations for the Day of Deliverance (as it has been called) were being completed: Scores of Malacosoma were pouring remains of their own kind over all the fenceposts for the Massive Black Flies to appetize on, others were reinforcing the cables for the aerial assault, and still others were debating the correct angle at which to enter the eye of the One-holding-the-metal-club (this, it must be said, created quite a controversy; veteran Gnats who had seen many Gnat-hours in the air, concurred with the 73 degree approach, as they were taught. Younger, more arrogant Yellow Jackets did not really agree to a set angle, they were far too much the 'freelance' type, in their humble opinion).

As expected, the heat was unbearable on Devil's Day (as it is still called). Chewing gum that had long been in isostatic cryostate was actually flowing. Massive Black Flies, Gnats, Gnomes, and Yellow Jackets all were at the height of ferocity. The rest of the gory details will be spared in this narrative; suffice it to say that the vicious cycle of sweaty Blue people attracting Malacosoma attracting swats of hands causing guts on skin attracting Massive Black Flies producing profound vernacular profanities did not end, even in the midst of the O'Connor Ejection (this tale is told elsewhere) and the Fitch Meltdown (this tale has been banned from the archives, even the mere mention of it puts me at risk of retalliation by Jihadist FundaNephalists).

In the end, the Blue people retreated into their Large Rolling Cheese and departed, defeated and scarred.

More middle schoolisms

The 8th graders who i share a room with for almost an hour in the morning continually amaze me. Most of the time, the amazement comes from their lack of understanding. Often I am amazed at the level of focus on things of little or no import. For example, this morning:

Why is your hair all flat?
I combed it different.
Tomorrow you should do a comb-over.
Stop looking at my hair.
I'm nah - aht.
Yes you are - quit.
Mr. B it just looks funny.

Juniors, on the other hand, are sophisticated,

...to say the least.

wouldn't that be sweet?

when do the facebook begin to pay?

I'm gonna have to eat straight goulash at lunch, dude.

Whe's con vega? Wow.

Dearer street?

I don't believe it.

Bobby just fell off his chair,

or, rather, the chair he was leaning back in slid and right after he said 'oh crap' there was this loud thud.

"you all right, Bobby?"

"yeah, i'm good"

middle schoolers are tough :-)

The second-last Monday of the school year...

weather is nice and we've got a home double-header after school. Another great weekend! this time was at Eastern Market in Detroit for Flower Day selling perennials.
14 years ago this day my sweety and i were married in Saginaw, MI.
Love you, babe.

Please pay attention while you drive,

please leave earlier so you're not in such a hurry to get where you gotta get to.

Lord, have mercy on his soul.

Didn't play our usual Monday doubleheader,

got to watch the Tigers instead. A great game with drama and heroics against the hated Yankees. Willis was a scratch cuz he was sick so Thomas started, followed by Bonine, Coke, Ni, Zumaya, Perry, and Valverde. Bonine got his third win and Valverde his 9th save - yes! Bosch had a big hit and Mags a big catch, Valverde struck out the side in the ninth. The boys gotta keep beating teams from the East (west, and central too, huh?) because Minnesota sure has been. Tigs are three games back, bullpen has been lights out, hitting second in the american league.

A good day with the kids to-day: two classes are working on end-of-year projects and my class of seniors is all but done...giving the final exam tomorrow (note to self - make copies!!!). Middle schoolers are still a mystery that will never be completely solved but i've incorporated tangrams into the daily grind for the rest of the year. "No Jillian tonight?!?" "NO!!!!!" whatever.

Staff meeting after school, yada yada yada...double header thursday down in Pentwater against a stinky team i got to scout yestreday. We'll be undefeated in conference going into our final four games next week. Tough Manistee Catholic is beatable - we've got better hitters top to bottom even though they've got a couple of kids at the top of the order with alot of pop.

I get to hang out downtown Detroit this weekend at Eastern Market for Flower Day! Selling and selling perennials and trees...great experience there last year, hope it warms up (47 now, windy and rainy).
Gonna test my blood sugar...ok...took a shot. Landlord's doing pork on the grill, steamed asparagus, cheesy somekinda soup, and there's fresh bread and roasted potatos. mmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmmm.

End of the day and the room is quiet...

i let the sophomores go about 12 seconds before the bell rings and i just soak up the solitude and tranquility. 3:03 and it's out in the hallway wishing the scholars a good day, now back at my computer at 3:07.

Fun day with the kids to-day. Made some mistakes, did some good things, learned some lessons. Thank you, Father, for teaching me; your ways are good. May i be like you when i teach.

low blood sugar woke me up wide awake at 1:15

...so it must be time to type! (ttt) :-)

Ernie told me this yestreday: When you have the choice of being right or being kind, always be kind.

I just had a lunchmeat/american cheese/no mustard sandwich but it was on the real cheap spongy white bread...omgwasitgood!!!

In a field of yellow flowers, ...

diet mountain dew out of a can isn't supposed to be real good for me, either, golly it sure is tasty!

Planted some snow on the mountain perennials sunday before i came back north; day before i made a couple of planter boxes (one rests on a 4x4 buried, never saw such a thing) and a cover for the camper. We were excited to get to watch the wings together but my buddy fell asleep after one period and it ended up being the last game anyway for them. DET lost today to CLE and go home for a week or so against NYY and BOS. I'm getting TRD and it's time to go to BED.

effin starts with 'e', Nisha, it must be the other word...

Oh yes another glorious day here in room 346 and the middle schoolers are i) "cleaning their locker" (translate: can we go screw around in the hall for the hour?), ii) "going to the bathroom" ("both of you?" "yeah, my locker's stuck and she's gonna help me" ... ? ... "k go.") or iii) playing chess ("you kill him then i kill him then he kills him then he kills him here but the king is still in safety") ...

I just dropped a line from the big lebowski on about ten of them and i haven't seen that blank of a stare since last hour's pre-algebra class...

Doubleheader tonight against Baldwin; the senior who quit the team yestreday is back on it today...life is good.

dude, you're being very un-dude

what the hell am i doing? really... golly!!! ... ... why?!?!?!?!? wtf...........

"And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!"

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.

"I pass the test," she said. "I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel."

LORD, help me pass the test.

God is great, God is good!

A not-so-great weekend comes to a close but to-day the sun was ashining and the music is aplaying and life is good. Drove up north listening to the Tigers and JV had a phenomenal outing to-day! Gave up a hit in the first, then retired like 23 straight until the ninth, gave up a hit and sparky pulled him for Valverde who proceded to shut down the halos for the final two outs. JV gets the win, and the damn near complet game shutout, Tigers got the win and the sweep! of the LAAoA for the first time in 12 years and the second series they took in a row. The Boys go to Minnesota for a series at the new park next taking a 16-10 record with them. Jackson only had 3 hits (5 yestreday) and there were no heroics for Damon (walk-off homer yestreday) but JV struck out 7 and didn't walk a batter in a performance that was as close to a no-hitter as you can get without doing it.
In other news, my landlord is cooking chicken enchiladas and i made a salad...sunday night's finest.
We play four conference games starting tomorrow.